A computer operating system or application program can provide different views of a computer system's contents to a user through a GUI. Three such views in a GUI are an icon view, a list view, and a column view. In each view, icons are typically used to represent the computer system's contents. A computer system's contents are typically organized in a hierarchical “file system” of nested folders (directories) and files. An icon in the GUI can have two components, an image component and a text component. The icons are presented to a user of the GUI in different visual formats in each view (icon, list, or column view). The different visual formats are designed to present information in ways that facilitate understanding and manipulation of their contents. However, manipulation of the icons and views can alter the icon's appearance and thus obscure the icon's visual information. Also, the volume of information presented in each view of a file system can be large such that a high demand is placed on the attention and concentration of the user of the GUI.
As such, there is a need for a method of providing visual cues for interacting with icons that, for example, represent folders and files presented in a GUI.